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Instructions for Construction Paper Cut Outs

by Alexa Dexa

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  • An activity zine accompanying Instructions for Construction Paper Cut Outs that prompts listeners to redirect their scissors towards emancipating hand drawn paper animals and bringing them to sanctuary.
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1.
Focus 04:31
Fountain pens and signature movements Nodding heads, mistakes and improvements I can tell if it’s forfeit by the way that you’re spelling it out Don’t pretend, I’ll make you prove it Hold your tongue Or I'll hold it for you Slow up Do what you're told to I'm not done No not by a long shot, so follow instructions Don't pull no stunts Better give me your focus Don’t get it confused, you won’t like the outcome I stay dropping clues, helping you out some Cuz baby I’m watching. Listen up close, I don’t like what I’m spotting I know that you, you’re up to something Hold your tongue Or I'll hold it for you Slow up Do what you're told to I'm not done No not by a long shot, so follow instructions Don't pull no stunts Better give me your focus Better give me your focus All this pent up aggression’s Got me messed up, obsessin All this pent up aggression’s Got me messed up, obsessin Hold your tongue Or I'll hold it for you Slow up Do what you're told to I'm not done No not by a long shot, so follow instructions Don't pull no stunts Better give me your focus All this pent up aggression’s Got me messed up, obsessin I’m not done No not by a long shot, so follow instructions Don't pull no stunts Better give me your focus Better give me your focus
2.
Scrabble letters, scribbled notes And scrambled treasures Find the X and find the tether Chaperoning our time together This is your competition Ballet moves in sleeping kitchens Witty words to fill the dishes If you want the trophy, make it glisten Place your bets on this gamble Pace yourself, keep your hands full Keep your hands full Place your bets on this gamble Pace yourself, keep your hands full Keep your hands full Kindergarten crushes Crushed up pills and crashing punches Grab the clutch and keep it coming We find our things in sprawling bunches This is your best decision A good proposal will catch my interest Interviews for new positions And follow-ups to grant admission Place your bets on this gamble Pace yourself, keep your hands full Keep your hands full Place your bets on this gamble Pace yourself, keep your hands full Keep your hands full How about we just give up Don’t bother me with who owes what I much prefer to barter How about we just give up Don’t bother me with who owes what If you fetch the stick, I’ll throw it farther Place your bets on this gamble Pace yourself, keep your hands full Keep your hands full Place your bets on this gamble Pace yourself, keep your hands full Keep your hands full Place your bets on this gamble Pace yourself, keep your hands full Keep your hands full Place your bets on this gamble Pace yourself, keep your hands full Keep your hands full
3.
Undo 04:11
Rattle my bones Unhinge all of my doors We’re transparent illusions We’re transparent Undo me, I’ll undo you Undo me, I’ll undo you Undo me, I’ll undo you Undo me, I’ll undo The weave of your thoughts The truth you base your reality on We’re transparent illusions We’re transparent Undo me, I’ll undo you Undo me, I’ll undo you Undo me, I’ll undo you Undo me, I’ll undo Don’t we always want the upper hand The upper cut, the upper jab The left right left your heart for dead The left right left your heart for dead Don’t we always say we mean the best? We’re mean at best Don’t we always say we mean the best? Undo me, I’ll undo you Undo me, I’ll undo you Undo me, I’ll undo you, you Undo me, I’ll undo Don’t we always want the upper hand The upper cut, the upper jab The left right left your heart for dead The left right left your heart for dead Don’t we always say we mean the best? We’re mean at best Don’t we always say we mean the best? Don’t we always say we mean the best? Don’t we always say we mean the best?
4.
Crossed out, circled, cut up and reglued Penned over, swapped in that rethink and redo Crossed out, circled, cut up and reglued Penned over, swapped in that rethink and redo
5.
A spinning top Will circle round until it stops If you let it drop and no one sets it off again Consider it the end I’m wound up so tightly Like good yarn and clenched teeth I’m wound up so tightly So don’t tie yourself to me Adding up the conversations I’ve unravelled constellations Nebulously looped In excuse after excuse I’m wound up so tightly Like good yarn and clenched teeth I’m wound up so tightly So don’t tie yourself to me Is this skin Enough to be wrapped up in Is this skin Enough to be wrapped up in With fingers crossed and lungs unfolding Body after body for the holding But still I’m not beholden Still I’m not beholden I’m wound up so tightly Like good yarn and clenched teeth I’m wound up so tightly So don’t tie yourself to me Is this skin Tie yourself to me Is this skin Tie yourself to me Is this skin Enough to be wrapped up in
6.
Remember 04:09
Who bought off Your steep debt Soldered and struck With cheap lead From each mess I protect With each guess I project What was it I wanted What was it I got from it Fool’s gold, a promise I expected cold but not this You sold your soul, you sold your soul You sold, you sold your soul You sold You sold your soul, did you profit Did you get interest on it You sold your soul, you sold your soul Was it the fix you needed Was it a relief when I let go and you left Was I easy to forget Tell me Be honest Did you move on Are you haunted Cuz I’m still struck, soldered With fool’s gold, a godsend You sold your soul, you sold your soul You sold, you sold your soul You sold You sold your soul, did you profit Did you get interest on it You sold your soul, you sold your soul The rates stay steady You can pick your currency I’m buyin if you’re ready Just remember what you’re selling The rates stay steady You can pick your currency I’m buyin if you’re ready Just remember what you’re selling You sold your soul, you sold your soul You sold, you sold your soul You sold You sold your soul, did you profit Did you get interest on it You sold your soul, you sold your soul What was it I got What was it I got
7.
Try Me 04:15
The space between the oven and the counter The water rings Beneath the potted flowers Strands of hair Echoes of our voices haunt the vents Stale air Circulation of our remnants Try me try me And I will prove To be harder to remove Than expected This is definite Try me try me And I will prove To be harder to remove Than expected This is definite You only think you kept The stains on your mattress If I could collect The phrases and masses I couldn't carry with me The traces that linger indefinitely I'd let them decompose Somewhere more peaceful Try me try me And I will prove To be harder to remove Than expected This is definite Try me try me And I will prove To be harder to remove Than expected This is definite Inches thicken Remembrance lessens The only growth is measured in regression The only garden A junkyard for parts unwanted Heaped among the broken radiators And utensils you never used one day you'll make your home here too Try me try me And I will prove To be harder to remove Than expected This is definite Try me try me And I will prove To be harder to remove Than expected This is definite Try me Try me Try me try me And I will prove To be harder to remove Than expected This is definite
8.
Collateral 04:43
I was never gon present an easy solution I bet that no one can but you can keep lookin I got caught up in the mix You knew what you were doin You knew what you were doin I wonder if you felt the same when I left But it doesn't matter, it doesn’t matter Your hands know how to take You's a steady grabber, ya steady grabber I tried to call the shots but you do not answer I tried to run away but you run faster You're a slow cancer You get what you want or its over after Work yourself into a coma, you're more drone than mammal Sequester all our dreams as collateral Collateral, collateral You put me in my place yet you still misplaced me Took me out on dates, said we weren't dating All I'm tryna say is you're pretty rude bae You knew what you were doin You knew what you were doin I wonder if you felt the same when I left But it doesn't matter, it doesn’t matter Your hands know how to take You's a steady grabber, ya steady grabber I tried to call the shots but you do not answer I tried to run away but you run faster You're a slow cancer You get what you want or its over after Work yourself into a coma, you're more drone than mammal Sequester all our dreams as collateral Collateral Collateral Collateral I ain’t never gon present an easy solution You know what you’re doin You know what you’re doin I wonder if you felt the same when I left But it doesn't matter, it doesn’t matter Your hands know how to take You's a steady grabber, it doesn’t matter I tried to call the shots (answer) I tried to run away (run faster) You're a slow cancer You get what you want, you get what you want Work yourself into a coma, you're more drone than mammal Sequester all our dreams as collateral You knew You knew You knew You knew

about

A surgical album of deft lyrical incisions, "Instructions for Construction Paper Cut Outs" presents authority in the female voice where deference is typical. Submissive conditioning and heteronormative power dynamics are crossed out, cut up, swapped and re-glued in order to craft a space that accommodates a woman's right to agency over herself. Directives made by soaring vocals find weight in dense electronic soundscapes. Assertions are punctuated by melodies on toy piano, desk bells, typatune, toy organ, toy glockenspiel, toy chimes, kalimba, thunder tube, vintage noisemaker, and theremini.

For anyone who's devoted endless hours to making unnumbered inward incisions for the sake of self preservation: redirect your scissors.

credits

released March 3, 2019

Composed, recorded, performed, and self-released by Alexa Dexa.
Mixed by Melanie Balderas.
Mastered by Bo Kondren at Calyx.
Album art by Jodi Lynn Burton.

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Alexa Dexa New York, New York

Alexa Dexa is a XxgrandmacoreXx toychestral electroacoustic composer-performer operating in a do-it-yourself/do-it-together capacity to deconstruct the harms of patriarchy using music as a tool of transformative self-care. Their collection of toy instruments
rivals a playpen.
... more

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